Missouri Survivalist Arrested In White Supremacists Investigation Convicted On 2 Weapons Charges

[Purveyor]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former Eagle Scout and U.S. Air Force Academy cadet was convicted Tuesday on federal weapons charges after being caught up in an undercover sweep of white supremacists who claimed they used his 200-acre Ozarks spread for survival training.

Robert N. Joos Jr., 57, was arrested at his home in rural McDonald County in June, when brothers Daniel and Dennis Mahon were taken into custody in Illinois and charged in a 2004 mail bombing that injured a black city official in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Joos was not charged in the bombing, but the Mahons told investigators members of the "movement" used Joos' isolated home for training. They described Joos as a "longtime white supremacist associate and an expert on weapons, explosives, bomb making and general survival skills."

Joos has acknowledged in the past giving survivalist tips but said they involved identifying plants that could be use for food or medicine. He testified Tuesday that he "is not a terrorist" and "absolutely not" a white supremacist.

"I don't condone any of that crap," he testified.

In an interview with the Associated Press before his trial, however, he said he believes in keeping the races separate.

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AP: http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-us-missouri-survivalist-convicted,0,1352635.story

[Scurrilous]

1. Good news!

:thumbsup:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

2. Always good when the bad guys go to jail.

[MoJoWorkin]

3. Yep, these are the kind of wing-nuts I have had to live around all my life

here is Springfield area. The woods are full of them in Southern MO/North AR.

I proudly still have my Obama stickers on my cars. I know that, in itself, might set some of these crazies off.

Having done a lot of canvassing for Obama here, once in a while you would go to a door and have an uneasy feeling as to what you might encounter. I really had mostly positive experiences, however.